Chapter Text
Chapter Notes: Canon characters referenced here from this episode include Guthrie's classmate Jenny Barrett, her parents Tom and Carey, Sheriff's Deputy Ed Sykes, and news reporter Glenn Terry. Other canon characters mentioned briefly include Hannah's former boss at the restaurant where she once worked, Marie.
Surfacing (a Continuation of "A Ring for Hannah")
by May Robinson
Chapter 1
Euphoria.
It wasn't a word typically associated with young cattlemen but Crane McFadden felt it fit him perfectly at this moment.
His four youngest brothers had not only survived the collapse of The Howling Man mine, they had come out of it unscathed. Thank God.
Crane was a practical man. The harsh realities of life, plus an interest in the world beyond small-town northern California spawned from three years away at college, had made him so. Even still, he felt that the McFaddens had already had more than their share of tragedy. When their parents were taken from them before all but Adam had finished school, hell, before Guthrie had even started, that should have fulfilled a lifetime's quota of tragedy for them all. So, when he had found himself numbly standing with his two elder brothers outside that mine listening to Tom Barrett despairingly suggest that they might have run out of options… that they might have to give up hope on finding them alive; Crane just hadn't been able to believe it.
But the McFaddens were never quitters. And here they were now, Jenny Barrett in her parents' loving hold and Crane's three youngest siblings safe in the arms of Adam, Brian, Hannah and each other. Everyone whole and safe.
Including Daniel, their middle brother and his closest one, by age and by grace. Once so guilt-laden and shredded to pieces, he was miraculously now the hero of this story. Savior of Jenny and his little brothers.
Euphoria just about covered it.
Crane watched with pride as Tom offered his hand and heartfelt thanks to Daniel. Though Crane had only witnessed one of the earlier tirades their father's old friend and business partner had subjected the already guilt-ridden Daniel to, he knew how much they had taken their toll. If not for the kid's stubborn tenacity to make things right and save those kids, Barrett's words would've destroyed him.
And despite Crane's elation over the outcome of the rescue, he was bearing his share of guilt too. He'd been so distraught over the plight of their youngest, and so focused on digging them out; he'd failed to come to Daniel's defense. Hell, he'd barely offered up more than a few supportive platitudes during the whole ordeal. He knew the kid would understand his distraction, but Daniel had deserved better from him. At least big brother Brian had stepped up to the plate.
Crane planned to make it up to Daniel though. Make sure he knew how sorry he was for not being there for him and knew just how incredibly proud Crane was.
The kid was right in front of him, still wearing his fall arrest equipment and hooked up to the hoist as he stepped back from Tom's handshake. Crane reached out and placed his hands on Daniel's shoulders, intent on pulling Daniel into him, surprised when the kid's legs seemed to buckle a little at the contact.
"Whoa, hey, you okay?" Crane asked, grasping Daniel's upper arms then turning the kid around to face him. Daniel looked a little flushed and was definitely unsteady, swaying slightly under Crane's hold.
He answered clearly though, "Yeah, just need some air. Help get me out of this getup, would ya?"
Crane could understand that. They'd all been running on empty. Busting their backs for hours on end. Digging endlessly, seemingly futilely, in search of their missing youngest. Mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted, Daniel had borne all that plus the heavier burden of guilt.
The crowds of well-wishers, rescue workers, news, and emergency crews were all still there, milling around with loud impromptu celebrations breaking out everywhere. People were packed together like sardines, it was no wonder Daniel needed some space.
"Yeah, sure," Crane said, removing Daniel's hard hat for him and lightly ruffling the kid's filthy hair. "Let's get you undone and head over to the ridge. The truck's there; it'll be a lot quieter."
Crane reached up overhead, liberating the lanyard and, with the tension released, Daniel swayed once again and, had Crane not been there to catch him, might've gone down. The poor kid was totally wiped out. Or maybe, Crane was starting to wonder - check that, worry - it was something more?
"You sure you're all right?"
The reply of, "I'm fine, Crane," was petulant enough to sound convincing, so Crane proceeded to order his brother to hold still as he helped him out of the harness. "Can we just do this?"
Despite his moodiness, Daniel leaned heavily against him during the process but he seemed steady enough now, even as he lifted one leg, then the other to step out of the contraption. Crane had been worrying about his family nonstop for hours; maybe it was time to let that go. "Okay, c'mon."
Slinging an arm around Daniel's shoulders, Crane steered his brother through the crowd and away from the lights and buzz of the masses still assembled around the ventilator shaft - the one Daniel had found - that had been his family's salvation. Though slightly torn about leaving behind Evan, Ford and Guthrie, knowing the paramedics still intended to check them over; he knew they were in good hands with Hannah and his older brothers. Besides, the younger brother leaning into him needed him more. Walking Daniel through that throng had made that perfectly clear. Well-meaning neighbors and strangers alike had reached out to him - to shake his hand, offer congratulations or pat him on the back but, with each encounter, Daniel seemed to curl further into Crane's hold.
Crane knew his brother was no stranger to the spotlight and, when it came to his music, reveled in it. But that wasn't the case now. If anything, Daniel was shrinking away from the adulation, seemingly getting smaller under Crane's arm. Crane knew all-too-well how, for Daniel and the rest of his family, the last two days had been an ordeal of life and death proportions. And, despite Daniel practically single-handedly making everything right in the end, Crane understood his brother well enough to know that it was going to take the kid a while to process all that had happened. And forgive himself. He knew damn well Daniel wasn't feeling much the hero. Maybe that would come - someday.
When Crane felt Daniel shiver beneath his grip and realized they'd left his jacket behind, Crane decided it was time to be a little more proactive. Get Daniel to the sanctuary and warmth of their old truck. The rest of the family would catch up to them soon enough. Ever the boy-scout his brothers accused him of being, Crane pulled out his trusty Maglite from his jacket and flicked it on. "Let's cut across here."
Daniel didn't say a word but changed direction at Crane's prompting. The kid hadn't said much of anything for that matter, not since he'd first started making his way down that shaft in search of their siblings. Crane figured he could attribute that to fatigue. After all, Crane wasn't saying a whole lot of anything either despite his earlier intention to have a talk with his brother. That was okay. It could wait.
When the furthest reaches of the flashlight's beam hit the very welcome and familiar sight of the Circle-Bar-Seven emblem on the truck's door, Daniel slipped free of Crane's hold. "Hey, careful!" Crane called out, breaking into a jog to catch up to his brother. Daniel knew better than traipsing around in the dark like that, especially on this uneven, rocky ground.
Too late. Sure enough, he heard the grunt as Daniel's brightly printed shirt disappeared beneath the splash of light. Shit.
"Daniel!" he called, annoyance laced through his concern. Hadn't he had enough to worry about all day? "Are you trying to break your ne-" His words cut off by the sudden lack of earth beneath his feet. "Whoa!" he yelped, as he apparently found the same low spot that had just claimed his brother. Crane landed with a graceless "oomph," losing the flashlight from his grip as it bounced then rolled until settling upright in its own hollow.
After regaining some of the wind he'd had knocked out of him courtesy of his hard landing, Crane straightened up, fully intending to give his impetuous brother hell. For his impulsiveness and for not having the decency to say anything when his brother just landed on his ass trying to keep up to him.
The words died on his lips the instant he looked at Daniel.
Something was wrong. Daniel hadn't acknowledged Crane or the fall that practically landed his brother in his lap. And worse, thanks to the Maglite's upright landing, Daniel's face was in its spotlight and Crane did not like what he was seeing. At all. "Daniel?" he whispered, a shiver of fear coursing through him, stealing his voice. Daniel was still, too still. He looked like a ghost of himself.
Crane tried to convince himself that Daniel's too white complexion was an illusion created by the flashlight and the light of the moon. Or maybe it was the eerie glow of the flashing lights on the emergency vehicles behind them reflected in those vacant, too dark eyes. But despite his best efforts to deny his thoughts, Crane suddenly knew all too well what "it feels like someone was walking on his grave" meant. Only in this case it was Daniel's grave coming to mind and that utterly terrified him.
Trying to shake off the morbid, paranoid thoughts, Crane reached out, cupped his brother's face with a trembling hand and breathed out a shuddering sigh of relief when at last his little brother blinked and made eye contact.
"Crane?" Daniel finally spoke, sounding much too young and disturbingly confused.
"Yeah, buddy?" Crane answered softly, still deeply worried but no longer thinking the worst.
Until Daniel's next words stopped his heart.
"Where's Dad?"
Adam McFadden was an exhausted man. But so damn relieved and thankful he could've cried. He'd confessed to Hannah, while the boys were still trapped in that godforsaken mine, that he'd been beyond scared. And he had been. Not since he'd lost his parents and fought for permanent custody of his siblings had he felt so afraid and lost, so out of control. He never thought anything could rival that fear but the idea of losing his three youngest brothers, his boys, to this disaster had shaken him to his very core.
Thank God for Daniel.
If it hadn't been for that kid's determination to rescue Jenny and his brothers, they might still be digging futilely at the site of the collapse. And, Adam shuddered at the thought, with water seeping into its dark recesses, they might well have been digging for bodies and not the healthy, whole kids wrapped in their families' arms.
Literally. With one arm resting along Evan's shoulder, both Hannah and Ford were entwined under Adam's other arm. Fact was, Adam simply didn't want to let go. Not so soon after almost losing them.
They were all looking on as Guthrie, with Brian sitting beside him in the ambulance, was getting the once over from Gabe Coulter, one of nearby Sonora's paramedics. Gabe and his partner, Hank Lungren, had already checked over Evan and Ford and now were seeing to Guthrie and Jenny Barrett. Adam wasn't terribly worried. Not anymore. He knew the kids were fine and the medics were simply following standard protocols.
Then again, he did find himself breathing much easier when he made eye contact with Brian, whose grin and wink elicited an, "All right" from Evan and the beautiful sound of Hannah's equally relieved laughter.
The icing on the cake was Guthrie's bright face and excited thanks when Gabe handed him the ball cap he was wearing that made up part of his uniform. That boy's smile was impossible for Adam to resist and definitely helped ease the tension his body couldn't quite let go of entirely. It was as though he'd been stuck in high gear for so long, he had no idea how to shift back into park. Was it really only two days ago when the biggest event in their lives had been Guthrie's upcoming talent contest?
"Hey, shrimp," Adam said, reaching up and grasping hold of their youngest as Brian lowered him down from the back of the ambulance.
"Hey, Adam," he replied cheerfully, seemingly content to stay squished against his big brother's side. Or maybe that was the other way around.
Adam relished the feel of his youngest in his hold. Despite his ordeal, Guthrie was his vibrant, exuberant self and so seemingly unfazed, Adam was beginning to believe that these last two days would soon become just another tale to be told by the old-timers playing checkers over at Marie's place. One with a happy ending, thankfully.
That is, once he got the official word from Gabe.
"So, what's the verdict, Doc?" He asked as both Brian and the medic climbed out of the ambulance.
"I'd say he's just like the rest of 'em, Adam," he replied, offering a warm smile and a tweak to the nose of the boy squirming under Adam's arm. "No worse for wear and likely in need of nothing more than a good scrub in a tub."
"So, why do I get the feelin' there's a "but" comin', Gabe?" Brian asked, saying what Adam was afraid to, and looking less at ease than he had just moments earlier.
"Oh, I don't mean to worry you now," the medic replied, shrugging his shoulders and then continuing. "Normally I'd just tell you to run 'em on over to Doc Mayer's for a follow-up in a day or two, especially if any of them develop a cough. But, given the circumstances--"
"What circumstances?" This time it was Hannah giving voice to the words lodged in Adam's throat.
"Well, I figure we might as well have 'em all checked out at County since Hank and I were gonna run Daniel over there anyway."
"Pardon?"
It wasn't so much what he said but rather how he said it. Daniel had been affectionately calling Adam "Dad" for years. Hell, he'd even use it once in a while when he was pissed off with his oldest brother for pulling rank. But, in all those times Crane had heard Daniel call his guardian that, it had never sounded like it did right now. So young and so small. No, Crane knew deep down to his marrow that Daniel was asking for their long-dead father, and that scared the hell out of him. God, he'd obviously been hurt when the mine first caved in; had Daniel been deteriorating all this time? And, if so, how the hell could Crane have missed it?
The urge to get help for his brother warred with Crane's worry that he might suddenly bolt again and make matters worse. He needed to get Daniel settled. Crane shifted closer, both hands gently grasping Daniel's face; a face looking at him so imploringly, Crane was convinced that the kid in front of him was a Daniel from their past.
Desperately afraid to say the wrong thing, Crane didn't answer, just stroked his brother's cheek and tried to calm him. "It's okay, Daniel. You're okay."
Daniel tried to pull away, but Crane held fast, as afraid as he was certain that he was dealing with a head injury. Pulling Daniel into his chest, the resistance he feared gave way and instead he felt a sob against his coat. "Where's Daddy, Crane?" Daniel whimpered, his words and the memories they were evoking ripping at Crane's heart. "Are Mom and Dad mad at me?"
Crane hadn't thought his brother could sound more broken but the fearful plea revealed the guilt Daniel had been carrying over the mine collapse. And now that blame had buried itself into a past none of them wanted to relive. All he could do was rely on his instincts and do his best to comfort his little brother.
Keeping a steadying hand against Daniel's head, Crane drew him in closer, heartfelt words pouring from his lips. "God, no, Daniel. They're not mad. They're proud of you." Tears were clogging his throat but he carried on. "So proud." Pulling away slightly, Crane gripped both sides of Daniel's face again, forcing eye contact, "We all are. You hear me?"
But Daniel was gone again, looking through Crane or past him, not registering the terrified brother mere inches from his face. Somehow Crane knew he was losing him and he needed help now. He'd have to risk leaving Daniel, even if only for a few seconds.
Easing Daniel back against the slope behind him, Crane shrugged off his heavy coat, rolled it into a ball and placed it behind Daniel's head. For better or worse, Daniel was being compliant, if still hauntingly unaware. Hoping his touch would get through where his words hadn't, he pressed firmly against Daniel's shoulders, admonishing him to stay put. "I need you to stay here, okay, buddy?" At his brother's lack of response, Crane could feel his eyes fill. His next words were as much prayer as they were command. "I need you to stay with me."
Grabbing up the flashlight, Crane started calling out for help as he ran the few yards he was willing to distance himself from Daniel. "Hey, over here! Somebody!" he yelled, waving the beam high above his head, hoping to attract attention. "I need help over here! Help!" He shouted, repeating his plea a number of times until turning back. Unwilling to wait to see if he'd been heard, Crane stopped briefly to rest a hand on Daniel's shoulder. Softly imploring, "Stay with me, kiddo," before making his way to the truck, he swung open its door and pounded on the horn three distinct times. Without a shotgun handy, it was the best he could do. Turning the emergency flashers on for good measure, Crane laid on the horn three more times, hoping that his efforts would be enough.
Rushing back, he dropped to his knees next to the kid now curled up on his side, hands covering his head. "Oh, God, I'm sorry," he said, voice breaking, stroking Daniel's hair as he carefully peeled away Daniel's hands and pulled him into his lap. Daniel was still somewhere else, caught in between a nearly decade old hell and the one they'd just overcome. He was talking now, though nothing he was saying could give Crane a spark of hope. Daniel was rambling, the only distinguishable words doing their utmost to devastate them both. Calling for their parents and pleading "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" over and over, Crane tried frantically to break through, to overpower those destructive words with his own choking voice.
"It's okay, I gotcha," he declared, hugging his brother tight as he rocked Daniel to the rhythm of his own desperate mantra, repeating, "Stay with me, Daniel. Please," and closing his eyes. Praying help would come soon.
"What in the hell are you talking about, Gabe?"
Brian was right in Gabe Coulter's face, countless hours of tightly spun nerves about to let loose on one of the good guys. Adam knew he should do something about that. Problem was, not only was he finding himself hard-pressed to stop his brother, he was right there next to him crowding the paramedic and plying a death-grip on his arm. If something was going on with Daniel - and where was his middle brother, anyway? - he should damn well know about it.
"Adam!" Hannah stepped in between them; probably a good thing considering Hank had finished up with Jenny and was shouldering his way into the group. Adam needed answers but they were starting to draw a crowd. Common sense prevailed and he let go of Gabe.
"Tell me what's going on with Daniel, "Adam demanded, his tone brooking no argument. "And just where the he-ck is he?" he asked, catching himself as he remembered there were children present.
One of them answered - Jenny, in fact. Pointing toward the ridge where Brian had moved the truck hours earlier, she eagerly informed the group, "I saw him walking that way with Crane." It might've been well past dark but, thanks to the light coming from the back of the ambulance, Adam could still see the blush on her face and the stars in her eyes. Oh, yeah. It looked like Daniel had earned himself a new fan.
At Jenny's news, Gabe grabbed one of the kits from the back of his rig. "This way, Jenny?" He asked, starting out in that direction at her affirmative nod.
And finding himself once again with Adam McFadden's grip around his arm.
"Gabe, what's going on?"
The medic shrugged, exchanging a pained look with his partner and sighed. Scratching his jaw, he answered. "Adam, all due respect but Daniel's eighteen and if he didn't tell you, I've got to honor that."
"I'm gonna kill him," Adam spat, frustration and anger warring with concern as he marched ahead of Gabe and listened to the fading sound of Hannah giving Hank the third degree. He smirked at that, knowing that his wife, who'd spent time with Daniel in the ambulance, was someone that the six-foot-three 240 pound ex-linebacker did not want to tangle with.
Aiming for the truck, Guthrie's footsteps quickly followed but the youngest McFadden put the brakes on when Adam whirled around and pointed at him, flicking his finger beyond him, back toward the ambulance. "Get."
"But he saved us," Guthrie appealed, dejected as he turned back. Brian was quickly catching up with a powerful searchlight in hand, but stopped briefly to whisper something in Guthrie's ear. Taking a moment to remove Gabe's hat from Guthrie's head, tousle his hair and replace the cap before sending him on his way with a quick pat to his butt.
Adam kept walking.
"Hey, c'mon," Brian implored once he caught up, matching him now stride for stride as he walked beside him. "Take it easy. You know damn well Daniel never would've left while the kids were still down in that mine."
And that precisely was the problem.
Daniel's guilt, sense of responsibility and tenacity would have kept him fighting to save Jenny and his brothers long after anyone else would've given up. And the cost to himself would have never entered into consideration. That was just how his kid brother was wired. And yet after Adam had first refused Daniel's offer to help, the rescue crews had worked through the night before Daniel next approached him about joining them. That he was feeling up to it. "I'm feeling better now."
Goddamn it, Daniel had been hurt. Apparently bad enough to warrant an admittedly delayed ambulance ride and certainly bad enough for him to wait - overnight - until he felt strong enough to handle the task of digging out his missing siblings. And that was scaring the hell out of Adam. He answered his brother. "Don't you think I know that?"
Adam kept on walking.
Until he was running. Three distinct beeps of an old truck's horn as familiar to him as the back of his hand and he was off like a shot. Brian right beside him, lighting up the path ahead of them, both picking up speed when the second series of blasts, sounding somehow more urgent, followed.
Brian was shouting back at Gabe, and Adam trusted him to let the medic know their fears. Hell, Brian had been in Daniel's corner all day, something Adam ashamedly couldn't say for himself. Who better than Brian to handle this?
He heard a loud whistle and more yelling behind him, this time from Gabe - apparently telling his partner to start their rig, because the next thing he heard was the bleat of a siren as the ambulance was started up and driving across the field around the groups still gathered there. Thank God for that. If Daniel was as hurt as Adam now feared, help was just seconds away.
"Easy, easy," Brian cautioned as they approached uneven ground but Adam threw the warning to the wind, well aware that the terrain was dangerous but unable to slow down knowing that Daniel and Crane needed him.
Until the vision before them, illuminated by the searchlight's harsh beam, froze his feet. And his heart.
There they were. His brothers were huddled together on the ground, Daniel gathered in Crane's arms and Crane curled over him. Protectively, reverently, hopelessly rocking his little brother. The personification of grief.
"Oh, God, no." Brian had been stilled by the devastating sight too. But only long enough to utter his entreaty before quickly closing the distance and skidding to his knees, arms reaching out for his younger brothers before he'd come to a complete stop.
Riveted to the sight, Adam only started forward when Gabe brushed past him, catching up as the paramedic set his emergency kit down next to Adam's family. The ambulance had pulled up alongside them as well, Hank immediately jumping out of the driver's seat, then swinging open the back doors and grabbing a gurney.
Just as Adam dropped down next to his brothers, Brian spoke, his voice grave. "He's alive. But Jesus, this looks bad." He was addressing Gabe but met Adam's eyes and the fear reflected in them created a dread so strong, Adam hesitated looking at the condition of the youngest in their midst.
For only a heartbeat. This was Daniel after all. And he owed it to him to be there despite the fear churning in his gut. "Oh, Danny," he breathed, reaching around Crane's hunched shoulders to touch the boy's face. He wasn't sure what he'd expected when he first saw his brothers crumpled together in the moonlight. He certainly didn't expect to see Daniel awake, but not. His eyes open but unaware. Daniel… still here, but gone.
"Hold on, Adam." The medic's tone stopped him and Adam pulled back his hand, afraid he would cause further harm. "Let me get in there," Gabe continued, hands grasping Crane's shoulders to pull him aside.
Crane didn't react, seemingly as oblivious to his surroundings as Daniel appeared to be, though Adam knew Crane wasn't hurt - physically. Ignoring Gabe, Crane whispered, "Stay with me," into Daniel's hair and continued to rock his brother.
"Crane, come on now," Gabe insisted, raising his voice. "We don't have time for this." And this time Crane did respond.
"No," he choked out, his throat clogged with tears Adam knew were clawing their way out. "I can't," he managed, so shakily Adam now feared that Crane was going into shock. Exchanging an anxious glance with Brian, Adam's second in command canted his head in Crane's direction and raised an eyebrow, silently asking permission to do what Adam could not bring himself to do. Adam swallowed hard and nodded.
Hank was hovering behind them with a backboard at the ready, and as the men wordlessly signaled their plan, on three, Brian got up on his haunches and wrapped his arms around Crane from behind. Before Crane could fight him, Brian began to talk, his head snug against Crane's as he spoke the words Adam trusted would get through to him: "Help's here, kid. It's okay now, let him go. Let 'em help Dan'l."
With a sob that tore through Adam's heart, Crane let go, releasing Daniel into the paramedics' care as he folded up into Brian's embrace. Adam reached out and cupped Crane's face, a small comfort he knew, but his brother looked all but destroyed. Grateful Brian was there to hold him up; Adam returned his focus to their injured little brother.
He wasn't sure just how to handle the well-practiced unison the two men were working in. He supposed he should take comfort in their obvious skill and expertise as they examined Daniel. But, as Hank rhymed off his brother's vitals and began questioning Crane about Daniel's condition, Adam couldn't help feeling every bit as scared, and mad as hell that he'd somehow missed this.
"Crane, how long since he last seemed aware?" Hank asked, repeating the question more harshly when he didn't get an immediate response. "Damn it, Crane!"
Hey, go easy," Brian snapped, his protective hackles rising.
"No, it's all right," Crane answered, suddenly shrugging out of Brian's hold. He still sounded shaky but, to Adam, he seemed less dazed. Whether bolstered by Brian's strength or his own instinctive need to help, Crane was coming back to them. As Adam watched Crane's light eyes clear, he was thankful, not for the first time, for his brother's attention to detail.
"He was coherent and talking back at the shaft, when he got Jenny out," Crane told them. "Said he wanted out of there. Away from the crowds. But he seemed a little unsteady, dizzy maybe?" Crane's face fell as he watched the men strap Daniel onto the gurney, raising it up, before placing an oxygen mask over his face. Remorse filled his eyes. "I-I just thought he was beat," he faltered. "And overwhelmed, you know?"
"We know, kid," Adam said, as Brian wrapped his arm across Crane's back and the three brothers stood to follow the medics. Together they told him, "It's okay."
Crane smiled sadly then swallowed hard. "He took a tumble right here, and that's when he really started to fade out on me," Crane continued, trembling once again. "But… I think I was already starting to lose hi--Oh, God." He stopped himself, voice hitching now. "I… I think he was starting to deteriorate while we were heading over here."
"That helps us a lot, Crane," Gabe said sympathetically as he climbed into the back of the ambulance, though his tone didn't provide Adam with a whole lot of confidence. Brian stepped forward to help Hank ease the gurney in next to Gabe, pausing briefly to rest a hand on Daniel's chest before rejoining Crane and standing next to him. Crane, who once again looked so crushed, Adam stepped forward and pulled him into the hug he was long-overdue to give. Crane held on for dear life and Adam hated to let go but Hank was closing up the doors and Adam had every intention of riding along with them.
"Adam." He heard his name from two directions, suddenly aware that Deputy Ed Sykes was pulling up with the rest of their family in his squad car and Hannah and the boys were calling out to him from its open windows. His family piled out, concern etched on all their faces, but Hank was addressing him too. As the kids and Hannah converged on them, Adam turned to the medic.
"I've only got room for one," Hank said apologetically and Brian reached out, giving Adam a light push.
"It's got to be you, partner," Brian said, as he snagged a protesting Guthrie and drew him into his side. The "you're next of kin" understood but silent between them. Their youngest was asking for Daniel, confusion and fear painted on his face. Evan and Ford looked equally shocked and bewildered but kept their questions to themselves, undoubtedly aware of the urgency of the situation. All they had to do was look at Crane to sense how bad things were. Adam hated the idea of tearing Crane away from Daniel now but Brian was right. Besides, Adam simply had to be there.
"Guthrie, come here, sweetheart." Hannah said, briefly squeezing Adam's hand before wrapping her arms around their youngest. Bless her perceptive heart, Adam thought. She was taking over Guthrie from Brian, who would soon be needed elsewhere.
"I'll provide an escort. Run the family in too," the deputy offered. "Where to? County?"
"No, Sonora," Hank answered soberly as he placed a firm hand on Adam's back and began to usher him toward the front of the ambulance. Climbing into the cab, Adam glanced back to see how his family had reacted to the news that Daniel was being taken to Sonora Regional Hospital instead of the closer County General. Adam figured all but their youngest would recall that Glenn Terry's last major local news story prior to the cave-in had covered the upgrades to Sonora Regional's Neurological department. As Adam shut the door he watched through the window as Hannah and the kids, every one of them a picture of misery, filed back into the car. Yeah, they knew it too.
As the ambulance began to pull away, Adam could see that Brian and Crane weren't among the deputy's passengers. He wasn't surprised that Brian intended to take their truck. Ed's car wouldn't hold them all and, knowing Brian, he'd likely beat everyone there anyway. As soon as he was finished dealing with Crane. Crane, who'd finally let go completely and was curled up on the ground with his brother's arms around him.
To be continued.